Holy Farmer (Shen Long) was the celestial being of medicine in folk legend. His great exploits of saving people from diseases were greatly praised by the people through the ages.
Once there lived a scholar called Mao Song who was honest and kind. Though he had studied The Four Books (The Great Learning, The Doctrine of the Mean, The Analects of Confucius, Mencius) and The Five Classics (The Book of Songs, The Book of History, The Book of Changes, The Book of Rites, The Spring and Autumn Annals) since he was very young, he didn't pass the examination.
He was disconsolate all daylong and so was suffered from depression. Many nodules (i.e., scrofula) of the horsebean size appeared at his neck. Some of them had been ulcerated and suppurated. Many doctors invited all treat him with soothing the liver and resolving depression, but the disease was not cured but deteriorated.
His father had to go to the trouble of traveling a long distance to invite Holy Farmer. One summer day, he came to the foot of a mountain. The green grass was flourishing and the plants were in blossom. It seemed that he had come to the fairyland.
He wanna have a rest but fell in a faint because of tiredness. It was unexpectedly that he had come to the Holy Farmer's herbal garden. Holy Farmer was watering the herbs and fertilizing the soil when the father of Mao Song came to his garden. Seeing that a person fall down, Holy Farmer went out immediately to rescue him.
The father of Mao Song came to his consciousness soon. He was very grateful to Holy Farmer and told his troubles. So Holy Farmer took one kind of herb from his garden and told the father of Mao Song, "decoct the ball-like part of the herb and make your son take the decoction. The herb is called 'Xia-ku cao (the herb that withers in summer)', i.e. prunella, because it will wither in summer. It can only be picked in summer and it has the actions of clearing heat and dissipating the accumulation."
After he went back, he made Mao Song take the medicine, and the disease was cured before long.
Since then, they planted prunella and treated the common people with the herb.
The prunella is bitter and pungent in taste, cold in property, and enters the lung and liver meridians by tropism. It has the actions of clearing heat and dissipating the accumulation, and clearing the liver and brightening the eyes. In the case of scrofula caused by accumulation of liver qi, it can achieve good effects by using herbs of soothing the live and resolving depression. According to modern research in prunella, it has the actions of bringing high blood pressure and antisepsis and is used to treat scrofula, thyroid enlargement, mastitis, hypertension, etc.
1.神农是民间传说中的药仙，他解除众生疾苦之伟绩，千古传颂。
2.从前有位书生名茂松，为人厚道，自幼攻读五经四书，然屡试不第。
3.茂松因此终日郁闷，天长日久，积忧成疾，颈部长出许多瘰疬（即淋巴结核），蚕豆般大小，形似链珠，有的溃破流脓。众医皆施疏肝解郁之法，无效，病情越来越重。
4.这年夏天，茂松父亲不远千里寻神农。一日，他来到一座山下，只见遍地绿草茵茵，百花艳丽，似入仙境。
5.他刚想歇息，不料昏倒在地。茂松爹怎么也没有料到，这百草如茵的仙境，竟是神农的药圃。此时，神农正在给药草浇水施肥，见有人晕倒，急忙赶来救治。
6.茂松爹醒来，谢恩并诉说了自己的苦衷。神农听罢，从药苑摘来药草，说：“用此草上端球状部分，煎汤服用。”又说：“此草名‘夏枯草’，夏天枯黄时采集入药，有清热散结之功效。”
7.茂生按按方服之，不久病愈。
8.后来，父子二人广种夏枯草，为民治病，深得人心。
9.夏枯草味苦辛，性寒，可入肺、肝二经，具有清热散结，清肝明目之攻效。对肝气郁结所致瘰疬，用疏肝解郁的药物，配合夏枯草清热散结，效果极佳。据现代医药研究，夏枯草有降低血压和抗多种细菌的作用，常用来治疗淋巴结核、甲状腺肿大、乳腺炎、高血压等病。
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